Financial jobs are increasingly moving away from their traditional home on Wall Street, and the southern half of the U.S. is gaining the most from the trend. According to Forbes, the majority of cities gaining the most financial jobs are located in the Sun Belt region. Just three out of the top 10 are located outside of the South and Southwest.
The Phoenix metro area gained the most jobs in the sector, according to the news source. Since 2008, the city grew its financial employment 12.6 percent, and just in the last year it expanded 7.6 percent. San Antonio and Austin, Texas, rounded out the top three, increasing their financial job figures 15.8 percent and 9.9 percent, respectively, between 2008 and 2013. By percentage, San Antonio, Texas, saw the largest overall growth on the list.
According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 7,919,000 people are employed in the country’s financial sector. Though cities typically associated with jobs in the industry, such as New York and Chicago, are seeing shrinking employment, overall the industry is gaining workers. Since the beginning of 2014, employers filled 19,000 positions in the sector.